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The Holiday of a Lifetime

Prologue

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Sara yawned as she awoke from her sleep, she threw back the covers and got out of bed, she pushed open the door as quietly as she could, it creaked and she heard someone stir in the other room. Sara tiptoed across the hall and into the bathroom. It was Saturday and two days ago Grissom had asked her…actually, told her, that she was going on holiday with him, he was keeping the destination a closely guarded secret, she tried to trick him into telling her but he was too clever to fall for her tricks. Grissom had called her the day before to tell her that their flight had been changed, they would be leaving at 7am. They had to be at the airport around two hours prior to the plane taking off so they'd be leaving the house at 5am, give or take a few minutes. To make things less complicated and to save time, Sara had stayed the night at Grissom's, he didn't have to convince her to do that, she was quite willing.

Ten minutes later she walked into the living room, a blanket was crumpled up, half on and half off the sofa, Grissom handed her a steaming cup of coffee, she took it gratefully and sipped it "thank you…how was the sofa?"

"…Hard."

"I'm surprised you don't have a sore neck…you looked uncomfortable on there last night."
He raised an eyebrow "you were watching me sleep?"

Only for a little while "I woke up in the night…got a drink…saw you tossing and turning."

She walked to the sofa and sat down, Grissom waited a moment then joined her "I do have a stiff neck though."

Sara set her cup down on the coffee table and cracked her knuckles "turn around, I'll give you a neck massage…"

Neither of then spoke for a few minutes then Grissom broke the silence "as much as I would like…to be relieved of my neck pain…we should get ready, we only have half an hour." He stood up and started to walk to his room "if it still hurts later though I know whom to call."

*

When Grissom and Sara reached the airport, it was practically deserted, Sara imagined this was what a ghost town would feel like, the only sound to be heard was the squeaky wheels of their luggage trolley on the freshly cleaned airport floor. There was no cue at check in so it took them under three minutes to get everything sorted out "we still have an hour and a half left so we might as well get breakfast" Grissom proposed, Sara nodded her head in agreement. There was a Starbucks in their immediate vicinity and they made for that. A tired looking waitress took their order and the two CSI's took a seat.

"So, are you gonna tell me where we're going?" During check in Grissom had made her stand out of ear shot, so she still had no clue where they were headed "I'll find out when we get on the plane anyway."

Grissom smirked; he found her impatience entertaining "then you should have no problem waiting."

"Just…tell…me" she said insistently.

"I bet when you were little you were the kid that always asked 'are we nearly there yet'" the waitress came with two cappuccino's and hot croissants, halting their conversation "thank you" the woman smiled politely and left them alone. Before Grissom could get his coffee, Sara grabbed it and held it out of his reach "Sara, give me the cappuccino."

"Ah…no."

He reached across the table to try and take it from her, she moved back in her seat, holding it further away "You're acting like a child" he said in an amused tone of voice.

"And as a child I'm asking, where are we going?"

He folded his arms and leaned back in his chair "I'm not telling you" he said firmly.

"Then you're not having you're cappuccino."
Grissom got the waitress' attention "another cappuccino, please" he turned to Sara, an almost smug smile on his face "You're forgetting I can just buy another one."

"Can you?" she said with a mischievous smile "what are you going to pay with?"

She watched as he felt in his pockets for his wallet "where is it?" he asked.

Sara drew it from her own pocket "I planned ahead…"

"The tickets are in there…" he looked slightly disappointed that his surprise was blown.

"I know, I haven't looked at them" she saw his surprised look "I just haven't had the chance to yet…" she opened the wallet and took out the tickets "you really want me to wait?" he nodded. She waited a few seconds then put the tickets back where they came from and handed him his wallet "well…I can't say no to you…besides you're cappuccino's getting cold." Before he could reply they heard a shout from the only other occupied table, a man around thirty was shouting at a younger woman, a baby in a pram beside her, was crying, the man grabbed the woman by the arm. "Hey!" Sara strode towards them.

"Keep out of this…it isn't any of you're business!" the man looked at her and shouted.

Sara's demeanour had changed in a flash, now she was angry…fuming "I'm making it my business" she said calmly. Grissom came up alongside Sara.

"You wanna keep you're girl away from me" he spoke directly to Grissom, ignoring Sara and his girlfriend completely, "this is none of her business!" he pointed at Sara.

"Maybe not…but shout at her again and it'll be mine" he said defensively.

"She lost the Goddamn tickets!" he now pointed at his girlfriend.

Sara looked towards the crying baby "those tickets?"

The girlfriend looked at her child, the baby clutched the tickets in her hands "thank goodness" the man grabbed hold of the tickets and pocketed them "thank you" the woman looked at Sara.

Her boyfriend draped his arm over her shoulders "everything's fine sweetie…no harm done" the couple, along with the baby left Starbucks.

Sara watched them go then turned to Grissom, she smiled slightly "so…you gonna tell me where we're going?"

Grissom shook his head "not saying a word."

TBC